Downtown Evanston Executive Board Meeting Wednesday, February ...

Downtown Evanston Executive Board Meeting Wednesday, February 10, 8:00 – 9:30 am 820 Davis St., First Floor Conference Room Meeting Minutes Present were Executive Board members: Jim Corirossi, Dan Kelch, Andrew McDonald, Lori Stein, Chris Mailing, Adrian Brewington, Mike McGuigan Staff: Annie Coakley, Laura Brown Board Member: Hank Goldman Guest: Paul Zalmazek, City of Evanston Call to order Chris Mailing called the meeting to order officially at 8:04 am when a quorum was present. Minutes approved Chris asked those present to review and approve the minutes as amended (see amendment below). Jim motioned to approve; Andrew seconded; minutes approved.  Remove the comment by Hank about the bylaws; it is not accurately recorded. Meeting Minutes Please note meeting minutes are as interpreted by Downtown Evanston staff. Treasurer’s Report: Dan Kelch  Redoing the template of how financial information is reported o Shifting to a landscape format to include all information on one spreadsheet and comparisons to past year and for forecasting purposes o Add/change some line items  Request for Executive Board members to review the changes and template and send any comments, suggestions to Annie  Annie commented that she and Kristin are working on comparing last vs this year but difficult because categories are different  Chris: would be interested in seeing individual events P&L o Ex: Oktoberfest – revenue for sponsorship, tickets vs expenses (advertising, equipment, staff, etc.) o Suggested using QuickBooks “Class” category  Andrew: Asked why there are two spreadsheets reporting different numbers for the same month o Annie commented that Kristin is pulling together numbers and consolidating reports Executive Director Report: Annie Coakley  Bylaw Revisions o Annie discussed the process of making changes and working with Chris and Andrew o Chris asked if anyone else wanted to be a part of the bylaws proposal. No one interested so Chris, Andrew and Annie will meet to draft proposal and present to Executive Board at a future meeting  Strategic Plan o Annie asked Board to review Final Report and approve for publishing on website o Comments:

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Dan: Where is the 51,000 employees from? Can PLACE site source? Annie: change Downtown Evanston, Inc. to Downtown Evanston as it has not been approved by Board  Annie: We can change our name as we are still operating as Evmark, Inc. DBA Downtown Evanston Show the Love (February 13): fundraiser event for Foundation 65; parachute drop; businesses giving back to Foundation 65 2015 Annual Report: Board members will review draft when designed Landscaping Contract: Teska Associates consultant for horticultural designs Panhandling: Due to legal issues with COE, we can place meters in planters to be more like public art, education campaign targeting NU students Thursday Night Live! Adding art walk component Daytime Farmer’s Market on Thursdays, 8am to 1pm at Orrington Plaza Sidewalk Sale enhancements to increase attendance and make more family-friendly Visited The National Market in Chicago, a food hall place on the ground floor of an office building

Paul Zalmezak, City of Evanston  Touched on some of the major issues and focus areas/projects in downtown Evanston o Retail: Focus on experiential, activity-based businesses, family-oriented o TIF concept: looking at broad area extended from Noyes Street to Grove Street to possibly include funding for these types of projects, similar to City of Chicago Transit TIF concept - long-range infrastructure investment plan  Transportation: Davis, Noyes, Foster stations  Arts: Noyes Cultural Arts Center, downtown Performing Arts Center  Parks within the area  Infrastructure: CTA and Metra viaducts o Comments:  D.Kelch: impacts of TIF on Downtown Evanston’s revenue stream  Create legislation to shift money back to DE and/or schools  D.Kelch: size of TIF and where funds go (Davis St. vs Noyes St. station)  Chris: TIF vs SSA – TIF trumps SSA?  Annie provided overview of SSA vs TIF  Dan: legislation for putting a cap on and specifying spending of SSA dollars. At one point there was an SSA created just for infrastructure funding that is still on tax bill  Dan suggested revisiting SSA4 borders—opportunity to expand borders, redraw the map when we renew  Davis Street Development (27-story residential w/Chase Bank on first floor) o Development company meeting with COE o Rental vs Condo discussion – market will tell  Office Space o Market right for more office but has to be built for specific user o Barriers  Rent for spec office space in Evanston is $55/sq ft but can go to Chicago and get $30/sq ft  Most office is Class B o In Downtown Evanston, 94% of office space is occupied o Dan: Elk Grove Village advertising as destination for office, warehouse. Position Evanston as place that is good for businesses to office  DE will look into advertising for this type of “Office Here” campaign  Focusing on retail that will create place o Identifying niche clusters for retail and reaching out/following up with information o Lori: traditional retail is really hard to attract – difficult with taxes, rents, proximity to Old Orchard (radius restrictions)

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Pop Up Retail Concept o Inviting Chicago boutiques to “test-out” the retail market in the Galleria space o BoomBox: pitch to place a “mobile retail “box” at vacant lot near Prairie Moon; DE provide funding and set up a different program (entrepreneur, startup retailer, maker/designer, etc.) each month to draw up interest and increase foot traffic to that area

Meeting Adjourned at 9:30 am